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Tuesday, August 21, 2018

A L Michael is a writer, currently living in Watford. She has a BA in English Literature with creative writing, and an MA in Creative Entrepreneurship, both from UEA. She also has an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, where she researched the usefulness of therapeutic writing with those in recovery from eating disorders.

She writes books about women who are trying to figure out their place in the world, and who aren't afraid to make mistakes.

When she's not writing novels, she's working as a content writer, practicing yoga, looking at puppy videos or drinking too much red wine.

There is nothing quite like the ocean. I don’t proclaim myself a mermaid, I don’t need to be swimming or plumbing great depths. I just need to be near it.

Like a faithful guardian, I like to hover alongside, smell the change in the air as the night draws in, as it turns from playful waves to inky silk kissing the shore.

My heart beats faster when I walk over a hill and see that great blue expanse staring back, swishing possibility. I have walked, splashing my feet as they sink into sand. I’ve snorkelled in a coral reef, seen baby sharks and ancient turtles. I have danced barefoot on a boat under the night sky, when the sea was silent and dark, a reflection of the stars swaying below.

I have been in love with the ocean for more years than I can remember. She’s impossible to predict - some days she’s calm and silent, some days playful. Some days she crashes waves and crushes ships and roars against the world. And that’s without the hidden world beneath. The sheer hugeness of the ocean, the fact that you could be in your little boat in the middle of nowhere, and see nothing but blue, or plunge deep below for miles and never stop...that terrifies me.

But the things we love should always scare us, just a little.

That flutter in my heart is excitement, mostly. The knowledge that the waves will influence my breath. That I’ll take deep, soul-cleansing, heart-filling breaths by the sea and I’ll be enlivened. There’s nothing quiet like sea air and bird song.

One day, I’m going to wake up to that smell, that sound, that sight every day. And it’s that hope, that dream, that makes my heart beat faster. Every day until that dream comes true.

Three very lucky readers of With Love for Books will receive a digital copies of the complete Martini Club series and a swag pack that consists of a compass, prosecco flavored lip gloss and postcards from A.L. Michael.